210 years ago today, Dawson Turner wrote to Ellen Hutchins with New Year greetings and a sincere desire to know about her health. Read the full letter HERE. He told her that Dr (Thomas) Taylor, her cousin, had been staying with William Jackson Hooker at his home, Halesworth, in Suffolk, for the past month and they…
Read more
Here is access to the correspondence between Ellen Hutchins and Dawson Turner in 1813. The previous post ‘On This Day 13th November’ gives a brief overview and bits of context for the letters in 1813 up to that date. The correspondence from three full years is now available, 1811 to 1813. The 1811 letters are…
Read more
Ellen Hutchins wrote to Dawson Turner on 13th November 1813 – On This Day, 210 years ago. The full text of the short letter is HERE. The notes below fill in a bit of what had been happening in Ellen’s life since February that year, which was the last On This Day blog. On 6th…
Read more
On This Day 210 years ago, 6th February 1813, Ellen Hutchins wrote a short letter to Dawson Turner. Her first to him since 16th December, even though in that one she had said that she would write in a few days. And this letter is much shorter than usual. Ellen had been ill and hopes…
Read more
Open House at the Ellen Hutchins Reading Room and Archives Saturday 11th February from 10:30am to 12:30pm at the Ellen Hutchins Building, Lee Road, Cork T23 XE10 with easy parking Free of charge Drop in, see the archives, displays and film, browse the books, have your questions answered at this free event. To celebrate Ireland’s…
Read more
Here you can access the text of the twelve letters that survive from the correspondence between Ellen Hutchins and Dawson Turner in 1812. As with 1811 (letters available in three PDFs Here) the correspondence covers more than the plants, seaweeds, freshwater algae and lichens that they were studying. We hear about their health, their families, Ellen’s…
Read more
210 years ago, On This Day – 16th December 1812, Ellen wrote to Dawson Turner again, just nine days after her last letter and in today’s letter she said that she would write again in a few days. The letter she was responding to has not survived. The spur to write, even though she was…
Read more
On this day 210 years ago, 7th December 1812, Ellen Hutchins wrote to Dawson Turner, beginning “How sweet a preparation of the medium of life is a kind friend’s letter!” By 1812, they had been corresponding for five years and a strong and deep friendship had developed between them. The letter covers many topics —…
Read more
Today, 11th February, is International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Ellen Hutchins was a serious scientist years before the word scientist was invented (in 1833). Most of her botanising round the shores of Bantry Bay and in the Caha mountains between 1805 and 1813 was done alone, but she does write about a…
Read more
On this day, 29th November 1811, 210 years ago, Ellen wrote to Dawson Turner. The letter is a delightful one, with passages about the young girl who helped Ellen with her work on seaweeds, lots about lichens Ellen has found and her enthusiasm for William Jackson Hooker’s drawings (plates) of liverworts. She thanks Dawson Turner…
Read more
